4,500 new homes built in the last three months

Taoiseach praises figures but experts say we need thousands more

THE Taoiseach has praised new figures showing almost 4,500 new homes have been built in the three months up to July.

But experts have said the country needs to build 30,000 to 35,000 a year and warn a lack of builders and engineers could hamper efforts.

The lastest figures were released in a new report from the Central Statistics Office and are based on new connections to the ESB network.

Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy said: ‘The CSO report confirms a strong upward trend... 4,419 houses were completed in the second quarter of 2018. So far this year almost 8,000 new homes have been completed.’

The figures from the months of April, May and June show more than three quarters of all new homes were in urban areas with just 22% being in rural areas.

The number of new dwelling completions was highest in Dublin at 1,804, followed by the the surrounding counties at 870 completions.

These two regions combined also accounted for three quarters of all scheme dwellings completed in Q2 2018. Apart from Dublin, counties Meath, Kildare and Cork record more than 200 new scheme dwellings each in April, May and June.

The southwest was the region with the most single dwellings completed, led by Co. Cork where 175 new single dwellings were completed. There were 323 new apartments completed in Dublin, which accounted for 65% of all new apartments in April, May and June, the CSO report shows.

Dublin 15 was the area with the most new dwelling completions at 308 followed by Dublin 24 at 178 and Glenageary in south Dublin at 171.

Nine out of the top ten Eircodes with the most new dwelling completions were in Dublin or the commuter belt.

Property Industry Ireland director David Duffy said: ‘With the levels of demand out there we would expect to see a continuation of the increase in activity but I think the capacity issue of enough people to build the houses is important. With the demand there it is likely we are going to see continued increases in output.’

The number of skilled workers – builders and engineers – was becoming an issue, he said, and encouraged those who emigrated after the property crash to return to Ireland. ‘We need people to return or for workers to emigrate here. We need more apprentices but that will take time before they are qualified,’ he said.

The Taoiseach said the figures were encouraging. ‘I’m pleased to see that in the last three months, 4,400 new homes have been built in Ireland and that’s a 34% increase on the same period last year. I think it puts us in a good position to meet our target of building 20,000 new homes in Ireland this year.

‘We have a housing crisis in Ireland, the solution is to build new homes and more homes and that is happening. It is going to take time but we’re getting there.’

Mr Murphy conceded yesterday that the Government had more to do to meet demand.

‘While we still have some way to go, more homes have been completed in the first six months of this year than in any year between 2011 and 2016. So that is really welcome progress. Our fundamental task is to increase supply and these figures confirm that this is happening, and quickly.’

The latest figures show almost 8,000 new dwellings were completed in the first half of 2018, housing estates accounted for 63% of all new dwellings completed in the second quarter of the year 2018, with 26% single dwellings and 11% of them apartments.

In those six months, 78% of the new dwellings completed were in urban areas and more than 60% were in Dublin and the surrounding counties, the CSO report says. But the total for the year is likely to be less than 20,000, which is about half the demand, says Brokers Ireland director Rachel McGovern.

‘Looking at the CSO figures for last year 14,446 new dwellings were completed in 2017. On that basis last year’s supply level would need to have increased by well over 176% to satisfy estimated current yearly demand.’

Fine Gael TD Maria Bailey said the latest increase in housing supply is key to solving the housing crisis. ‘This CSO report shows that the number of new dwellings for Quarter 2 of 2018 is up 34% on the same period last year.

‘This is a significant proportional increase and it is good to see that housing supply is going in the right direction. While these figures are welcome, there should, of course, be no complacency.’

‘We’re getting there’